Portraiture: Finnegan Edwards
Finnegan (Finn) Edwards is a close friend, and even better model, of mine. I am currently living with him and four other friends, and, after agreeing to model for this project, Finn elucidated upon the “vibes” he wanted to convey with his portrait. Having just moved back to Berkeley after living in his hometown of Ojai for the entirety of this year long pandemic, he is excited to live with his friends for the upcoming, post-pandemic senior year. Finn says that he has felt nothing but positive emotion (“immaculate vibes” in his words) and excitement at what lies ahead.
Taken during the golden hour between 7–8pm, I did my best to convey this uplifting tone by having Finn pose on top of the roof in order to get the ideal lighting. I also asked that he be doing what he would normally do if upon the roof at this time (hence the beer in his hand). Additionally, I experimented with different compositions including different subject placement in a variety of quadrants as well as different poses/directions for the photo. However, I ended up taking closer shots in order to emphasize the light upon his face (and the attempted Rembrandt lighting although I was not able to capture that effectively), as well as the light reflection from his eyes in the hopes of capturing his almost palpable positivity and excitement for the future.
Included below are a number of outtakes. In many of these, he is straight-faced and turned away from the sun. Although being pleasant portraits, I feel these did not truly capture the intended feelings and message of positivity that Finn had conveyed to me.
